Bomb blast in Darjeeling, no injuries
Darjeeling, August 19 (IANS): A bomb ripped through the heart of West Bengal’s hill town of Darjeeling damaging a few shops early on Sunday, police said. No injuries were reported in the incident that caused panic among locals. “There was a bomb blast in Darjeeling’s motor stand area post midnight. No one got injured as the place was empty at the time of the blast. We are investigating the incident,” Superintendent of Police Akhilesh Kumar Chaturvedi told IANS. The blast took place on the 69th day of the indefinite shutdown called by the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM), which has demand a separate Gorkhaland state be carved out of the north Bengal hills. According to sources, a number of shops and the road in front of the motor stand area have been damaged. No individual or organisation has so far taken responsibility of the blast.
Man kills college-going girl, commits suicide
Visakhapatnam, August 19 (PTI): A 30-year-old man allegedly killed a college-going girl by setting her on fire today, apparently for rejecting his advances, and committed suicide, police said. The incident took place in T Nagarapalem area under Bheemili police station limits in the city. P Hari Santosh, who worked at a sofa repair shop, used to stalk Potnuru Roopa (20), a second-year BSc student, even after she refused to speak to him, said inspector G Bala Surya Rao. At around 12.15 pm today, Santosh went to the girl’s house and set her on fire after emptying a can of kerosene on her. Rupa’s brother Upendra tried to save her and suffered burns himself. The girl died on the spot, police said.
Suspended MP Judge to cycle 700-km to seek justice for himself
Ratlam (MP), August 19 (PTI): A suspended additional sessions judge today set off on a 700-km journey on bicycle from Neemuch to Jabalpur, where he plans to stage ‘satyagrah’ to draw the attention of the Madhya Pradesh High Court to the alleged injustice meted out to him. “I will stage satyagrah after reaching Jabalpur in protest against my transfers and suspension,” he told reporters here. Shrivas said that he would try to ride nearly 100 km per day and reach Jabalpur in seven days via Ujjain, Sehore, Mandideep, Gadarwara and Narsinghpur. The suspended judge had also filed a contempt petition in the Supreme Court against judges of the MP high court. At the sit-in staged by him outside the MP high court building in Jabalpur from August 1 to 3, Shrivas had alleged that he had been transferred four times in fifteen months in violation of the transfer policy. The additional sessions judge also alleged that despite the ‘Transfer Policy-2015’, which says that a judicial officer could work at one place for maximum of three years, “several officers were enjoying stints of as long as five years”.
Shimla temple theft case: Stolen idols recovered, 2 accused held
Shimla police today claimed to have solved the Shirgul Kila Temple idol theft case and recovered all the four stolen ancient idols of ‘ashtadhatu’, police said.The police also arrested two accused, Chatter Bahadur and Dipender, both hailing from Nepal, while a manhunt has been launched to arrest the third accused, they said. “The antique value of the 200-250 years old idols were in crores of rupees and the accused had struck a deal to sell the four idols for Rs 50,000,” SHO Chopal Dharam Singh Thakur said. Sharma claimed that some unknown persons broke into the temple and stole four idols and one shell (shankh) from there on the intervening night of August 17 and 18, he said.The police scanned the CCTV footage and spotted two persons with muffled faces inside the temple but could not identify them.
Army personnel allegedly thrashed two policemen in Kupwara district of Kashmir today after they objected to “harassment” of a civilian by the soldiers, sources said. Two policemen were beaten up after they asked the soldiers to let go a motorist, who was held by the Army personnel, the police sources said. They said one of the policemen was taken to hospital for first aid.However, senior police officers downplayed the incident, saying there was a minor altercation between the soldiers and the policemen but no manhandling took place. “The Army had siezed the vehicle of a local commuter and the Munshi of the Kupwara police station had gone there to get his vehicle released.
The online portal of Tiruchirappalli Municipal Corporation was today hacked allegedly by a Pakistani hacker with pro-Kashmir separatist slogans posted on it. The police said the motive behind the incident could be known only after a detailed investigation. They also suspect that some data might have been stolen from the website.The hacker had also posted views on attacks on women and children, police said. The technical experts have set right the portal and its operations have resumed, they said. Meanwhile, the corporation officials have lodged a complaint with the cyber crime police. The police added that the hacker claimed to be a “loan injector”.
Police have arrested a suspected drug peddler in Jammu and Kashmir’s Reasi district today. On specific information, a police team arrested the man at Simbal Choa Chowk and recovered 185 grams of cannabis from his possession, a police officer said. He was arrested and a case was registered, he said. The accused has been identified as Satpal alias Sonu.
Five persons -- three women and two minor girls -- were killed and three others suffered injuries in an explosion at an ‘illegal’ fire cracker unit near Khurda, police said. The deceased included four members of a family. The blast took place at the house of one Sanatan Sethi, where his family was allegedly manufacturing fire crackers illegally at Siko village under Jankia police station.The asbestos roof of the house was severely damaged under the impact of the explosion, police said. Fire brigade personnel went to the village and doused the fire. The deceased were identified as Babi Sethi (40), Madhabi Sethi (8), Tikili Sethi (4), Dolly Sethi (19) and Dutee Sethi (62).
